Does Your Rabbi Know You’re Here? The Story of English Football’s Forgotten Tribe

“Jews don’t do football. Or at least, they don’t play it.”

Drawing on his new book, Does Your Rabbi Know You’re Here? Anthony Clavane dispels this popular myth to reveal the hidden history of Jewish involvement in English football. He argues that football’s transformation from working-class pursuit into a global industry would not have been possible without such forgotten Jewish figures as Harry Morris, Leslie Goldberg, Louis Bookman and Edward Freedman.

Their untold stories, as well as the more familiar rags to riches tales of David Dein, David Pleat and Alan Sugar, are emblematic of an immigrant community’s successful integration into British Society.

Anthony Clavane taught history before becoming a journalist. He wrote on arts and culture for the Independent and now writes about sport for the Sunday Mirror and Blizzard magazine. He has won many awards for his journalism and is author of the critically-acclaimed, Promised Land: A Northern Love Story.

“The relationship between antisemitism and other forms of racism and exclusion is not only a historical question. It is an urgent issue for today.” Professor David Feldman, Director.

The Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism was established by the Pears Foundation and is based at Birkbeck, University of London. It is a centre of innovative research and teaching, contributing to discussion and policy formation on antisemitism as well as other forms of racial prejudice and intolerance. It is both independent and inclusive.